The following question was posed by the editors of the Newsweek/Washington Post blog, On Faith: The ACLU, joined by the ADL, has asked the U.S. Naval Academy to end prayers at mandatory meals, and yet all branches of the service employ chaplains. What is the proper role of religion in the military?
My response, excerpted below, drew the attention of someone claiming to be one of the nine midshipmen who requested help from the ACLU in ending the pre-meal prayers to which they objected. My initial response to the question is followed by both the comment of that midshipman and my response to him.
This should not be about constitutional debate or political wrangling. Which is why the ACLU's involvement, however well meaning, is not helpful. Nor is the involvement, soon to come I am sure, of any of the conservative advocacy groups with the word "freedom" in their name. This needs to be about meeting the spiritual needs of those sharing a meal, including those who have no felt spiritual needs at all.So how about inviting all those who call the U.S. Naval Academy home, and who oppose such prayers, to articulate what they could live with in order to support those who want them, and inviting all those who want them figuring out how to pray in light of those requests. If neither side can participate in that conversation, then we will know that what they seek is not the accommodation of their needs, but the exclusion of someone else's.
Perhaps a moment of silence to reflect on these questions is where to begin. Imagine no longer fighting about which side is right, but inviting all those affected to consider the needs of those around them before eating the meal they need to meet their own.
MIDN X: I am one of the nine midshipmen that brought the noon meal prayer issue to the ACLU's attention. We did so only after our numerous attempts to discuss the prayer issue with the Naval Academy administration failed. Our solution is simple: eliminate the large-scale, mandatory prayer and in its place allow those who would like to to pray to do so on their own or in small groups at their individual tables. We are not opposed to prayer; in fact, I encourage those who are religious to do so. We would simply like to be free from having the religious views of others imposed on us, much as you would like to be free from having my views imposed on you. Midshipman X July 26, 2008 4:52 PM Posted on July 26, 2008 16:52brad hirschfield:
Thanks to Midshipman X, both for his courage in bringing a genuine conern to his superiors (never easy in the military) and also for proving my point. The issue here, is not and never was, public prayer per se'. It was and remains the unresponsiveness of the Naval Academy adminsitration. Their failure to engage in precisely the kind of conversation which I suggested, has landed in court, which is never the best place to work out one's differences.I deeply appreciate the need for an environment free of religious coercion. Last time I checked, it is one of the values for which this nation stands and which these soon-to-be officers have pledged to defend.
We often miscontrue each others attempts to create settings that respect all people, either as being spiritually coercive or hostile to religion when that is not the intent of either side. My comments were directed at breaking that cycle and creating an environment in which better solutions could be found. Let's hope that they will be.
July 26, 2008 9:53 PMAnd although I did not raise it in that context, I am particularly disturbed that the Anti-Defamation League has joined the ACLU in this request. Why is it that this is even a "Jewish Issue"? Who has been defamed? Why do I get the feeling that once again we see a group that has only a hammer in their tool box, so they see every issue as a nail?
Wouldn't a workable solution be preferable to another round, or 10, in federal court, in which arch secularists are pitted against triumphal religionists?
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Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
I pray before I eat in any military dining facility.
When eating military food, any help you can get, divine or otherwise, is usually best.
I think we should not be deceiving our by pretending that the Christian faith believers are not a continual campaign of using all facilities and opportunities to tactically or even forcefully impose their beliefs and practices on others with whom they associate or socialise with, at workplaces, schools, buses, markets, etc. They want to lead the prayers, and conduct it in their own way. No. We have many Faiths in this good and beautiful world, and everyone should enjoy, at all times and places, the freedom of expression that Faith's practices. My suggestion is that let everyone pray in his/her own faith's way, Christians in christian way; the Muslims or Jews, in the Islamic or Judaisic way; the Budhists or Hinduists, in their own ways. This is the Godly way, the right, good and just way. Let the Christians allow peace and justice to reign in our World of God, The Alimighty.
Jumat
Its a prettty straight forward answer
Let those who wish to pray, pray over their meal
Let those who wish not.. not
It doesnt have to be something ALL must or ALL must not do
To say ALL MUST is where religious wars were started.
http://www.personaluniversitychecks.com/U.S-Naval-Academy.htm
The prayer is not being imposed on you. It is completely optional and hence completely legal. Hey this imposing your beliefs is a two way steet you know. To ask that a 160 year old tradition be thrown away is to impose YOUR beliefs on every one else! If you succeed in getting rid of this prayer, the US Naval academy will have to ignore the legality of this prayer. Should the Naval Academy send out the message that it is OK to ignore legalities? I think not. The ACLU needs to back off on this one as they don't have a legalleg to stand on.
Email adress won't be made public; I don't think so! What about all the junk I get when I send my email to someone? It happens every day.
Say something on your website if you want to get hold of me. On second thought, I will not hide from this garbage; grangerbud@comcast.net.
Now to the point at hand. The ACLU and ADL are absolutely wrong and wasting time on something that is a tradition and accepted by the vast majority of those of us who are graduates of the Naval Academy (Class of 70) by the way. We accepted it as we learned to follow orders because in battle you follow orders or people die. If they don't follow discipline by hearing some simple words of comfort, will they follow the orders of their commanders in battle?
Someone who is opposed to a simple statement of faith by whatever faith before a meal and who said groups at tables should hold their own prayers simply and quickly (I paraphrase). Well, they are at the tables before meals as well and so they are still exposed to a prayer of thanksgiving for their good fortune.
My father was basically agnostic and he served in WWII. He did believer however, that something or someone had to have made all of this we enjoy and had to fight for. He said those who had faith fought just as bravely as those who didn't. Those who didn't have faith certainly wanted a chaplain or rabbi or Islamic officer to hold their hands when they were dying on a stretcher or in a hospital.
My roommate from the Naval Academy is a devout Baptist from the South.
He never pressed it on anybody, we just discussed faith as we would politics we made our minds up about it. We were roommates for all four years (which is a rarity) albeit strangers when we met. He is still one of my best friends and we are brothers.
I went to church all my young life and I believe in a true creator, but before I met my roommate, my father was taken from my family when I was very young and my beliefs took a hit.
My roommate helped me come to grips with it and as we like to say together, "he taught me to pray (the right way) and I taught him how to drink"!; responsibly I might add.
Find something good to do ACLU, there are so many other things good you can do I hope. Why does it say "In God We Trust" on our currency; I suppose you will go after that too.
And, as we say at USNA, "BEAT ARMY". I suppose you find a way for us to stop that too!
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